Machine and method for the circular knitting of plush goods

ABSTRACT

A machine and method for circular knitting of plush fabrics. The circular knitting machine has a needle cylinder and dial, and the needle cylinder accommodates spring needles while the dial accommodates latch needles, the two sets of needles coacting to carry out the knitting. During the knitting operations the spring needles coact only with the plush yarn to form plush loops while the latch needles coact both with the plush yarn and with a ground yarn to work both of these yarns.

United States Patent 1 [11] 3, Plath Apr. 1, 1975 [54] MACHINE ANDMETHOD FOR THE 1,686,172 10/1928 Porte 66/194 IR LA NI IN F P H D1,777,699 10/1930 McAdams... 66/12 C CU R K G 0 G00 8 2,133,840 10/1938Anderson 66/194 [75] n entor: n i r t 1 g 2,276,920 3/1942 Bromley et a166/104 ux Germany 2,379,852 7/1945 Nebel 66/194 1 1 Assignee= Mayer & aTaflfingen, Germany 3:111:55? $11322$252k3;:11111.......1111:111:11"a6?1i ;2 [22] Filed: 1972 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 12 1 pp 2 1,798 590,937 4/1959 Italy 66/194Related Us. Application Data 1,104,859 3/1968 Unlted Klngdom 66/194 [63]22 53 121? of 1969 Primary ExaminerWm. Carter Reynolds [30] ForeignApplication Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT Dec. 24, Germany A ma hine andmethod for circular of plush fabrics. The circular knitting machine hasa needle [52] US. Cl 66/12, 66/92, 66/116, cylinder and dial and theneedle Cylinder accommo 66/194 dates spring needles while the dialaccommodates [51] Int. Cl D041) 9/12 latch needles, h two t f n dl scoacting to carry Field of Search 66/9 R, out the knitting. During theknitting operations the H04, 116 spring needles coact only with, theplush yarn to form plush loops while the latch needles coact both withthe 1 1 References C'ted plush yarn and with a ground yarn to work bothof UNITED STATES PATENTS these yarns. 716,767 12/1902 Scott 66/12 l864,115 8/1907 Williams et a1. 66/92 5 Clams 12 D'awmg i i-GENRE APR 11975 saw 2 OF 5 Fig. 6b

UUUUUUU INVENTOR: ERNST-[METER PLATH M a m ATTTJRAQV FAE'ENTEDAFR 1 1975187419 SHEET 3 BF 5 INVEN 0R: ERNST-DIETER I LHTH ATTQRNEI WEHIEQ EB3,874,197 saw u or 5 lav-M 0' ATTORNEY SHEET 5 BF 5 CYLENDER CAM SYSTEMFOR HOLDENG THE PLUSH LOOPS llllllHllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillHlllIlllllllllllllllllllIIHIIIIH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This is acontinuation application of Ser. No. 878,464 filed Nov. 21, 1969 nowabandoned.

The present invention relates to a machine and method for manufacturingplush fabrics. In particular, the present invention relates tomultiple-system circular knitting machines which can be operated forthese purposes.

Plush fabrics have been manufactured up to the present time for the mostpart on circular knitting machines which in a known way are providedwith spring needles. The known machines operate to achieve a singlefaced material with a pair of yarns where the yarns are knitted in sucha way that the loops thereof are sunk to different extents. The yarnwhich has the relatively short loops provides a relatively strong groundfabric while the other yarn in the form of the longer plush loopsextends to one side outwardly beyond the knitted base. Circular knittingmachines have, however, the disadvantage that they must operaterelatively slowly and have only a relatively small number of operatingsystems circumferentially distributed about the machine. As a result itis indeed possible with proper care to manufacture a very clean anduniform plush fabric, but the output of such machines is very low, forexample, on the order of one-fifth the output of a conventional circularknitting machine of the same diameter because the usual circularknitting machine has a larger number of knitting systems distributedabout its periphery and in general can operate at a faster speed.

It has already been proposed to manufacture plush fabrics on circularknitting machines. For this purpose it is conventional to use in generalmachines with a single set of needles provided with a needle cylinderand with hold down sinkers having stepped knock-over surfaces. The holddown sinkers are guided in a sinker ring controlled by suitable cams andoperate synchronously with the needles. Such machines are also operatedwith a pair of yarns. Thus. the ground yarn is directed to the needleswhen the sinkers are retracted with the yarn situated closely over theknock-over edges. Then the sinkers are moved to such an extent that tipsthereof extend between the needles. Then the needles will first receivethe plush yarn which is knocked over the upper edge of the sinkers andforms a long plush loop while the ground yarn is knocked over the loweredge of the sinker to form a short loop.

With this method of knitting of plush fabrics there is the disadvantagethat the plush loops do not always have a uniform length and form at thelocations of the shorter plush loops projecting plush yarns at the rearside of the knitted fabric, so that the rear side will not have a cleanappearance. When the needle is advanced the loop which is at the hook ofthe needle must open the latch, with the result that the yarn is verygreatly stressed since the loop must be moved over the opened latchalong the needle shank. Moreover, the plush yarn is relieved of stressin this way so that the plush yarn can be pulled somewhat in thedirection of the head of the loop of the knitting. The result is thatduring the next following sinking operations of the needles the latchesextend into the widened loops, so that they are taken along in theknitting of the next series of loops.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of theinvention to provide a multiple system knitting machine and methodcapable of providing plush fabrics which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a machine andmethod which are capable of producing a plush fabric having a cleanknitted structure.

Also it is the object of the invention to provide a machine and capableof achieving plush fabrics according to any desired pattern.

According to the invention the machine has in the known way a pair ofbeds or sets of needles. one of these beds of the machine has latchneedles whiled the other has spring needles. The circular knittingmachine is, as is conventional, provided with a needle cylinder and adial. In accordance with the invention the spring needles are situatedin the needle cylinder with their hook openings directed toward the axisof the needle cylinder. The machine can be provided with known,conventional pattern selecting devices such as, for example, Jacquardapparatus for pattern selection, capable of operating on the springneedles. The spring needles can for this purpose be provided withpattern butts or can be coupled to control elements provided withpattern butts. In order to achieve a clean plush fabric with plush loopsof uniform length, the spring needles have a special constructionaccording to the invention.

For this latter purpose the upper hook ends of the spring needles arecranked in such a way that the tip of the hook is situated to the rearof the innermost portion of the needle shank which is nearest to theaxis of the needle cylinder. The innermost part of each needle shankextends along a straight line, the extension of which is situatedbetween the tip of the needle hook and the axis of the cylinder so thatthe needle hook is outwardly displaced with respect to this line. Thetip of the needle is inclined at a relatively sharp angle extendingalong a line which makes with the innermost line extension an angle of5-15. The cranked upper hook end of the spring needle, with theexception of its tip, can be at least approximately of the samethickness as the shank of the spring needle.

With the circular knitting machines of the invention the plush knittingcan take place according to different methods with the machine capableof being adatped to the individual knitting methods. Thus, for example,spring needles of different lengths can be provided which, in a knownway also, are directed along different cam paths. When spring needles ofdifferent lengths are used, each cam system can have different sinkersespecially provided for the needles of different lengths with thesesinker components offset with respect to each other in the direction ofrotation. In order to form the plush loops, it is possible to useadjustable sinkers or stitch cams while in order to hold the plushloops, which can take place in special cam systems, it is preferredtoprovide non-adjustable permanent cam paths.

In order to adapt the machine to different predetermined possibleknitting methods, the dial and the cylinder of the machine may beprovided with different needle distributions. Also, the machine can beprovided with a stripper device in order to achieve a reliable castingoff of and displacement of the plush loops beyond the region of theneedles and hooks of the machine.

In order to manufacture plush fabrics from at least one plush yarn andat least one ground yarn, it is possible according to the invention towork the spring needles so that they operate exclusively with plush yarnwhile the latch needles operate both with the plush dles 10 areaccommodated in a conventional manner. It is to be noted that theinnermost part of the shank of each needle 10 extends along a straightline 104 which is parallel to the cylinder axis and the extension of 5which extends along the dotted line path indicated at yarn and theground yarn. However, the latch needles the line 104 in FIG. 1. Thus, itwill be seen that the can alternately work first with plush and groundyarns cranked hook end 101 is retracted rearwardly and distogether andthen only with ground yarn. For example, at a first knitting system ofthe machine of the invention only every second spring needle can becontrolled or not controlled according to a predetermined pattern inorder to form a plush loop while only every second latch needle operatesto form a loop of plush and ground yarns. At the next knitting systemthe spring needles hold the plush loops which have been formed and allof the latch needles or only every other latch needle knits a loop onlyof the ground yarn. At the next following pair of systems it is possiblein the same way to operate the remaining spring needles according to agiven pattern and the remaining latch needles. However, it is alsopossible, at every first and third knitting system of a group of foursystems, to put into operation all of the spring needles and all of thelatch needles according to predetermined patterns. A casting off of theplush loops from the spring needles taken place advantageously at agiven distance from the several knitting locations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way ofexample in the accompanying drawings which form part of this applicationand in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side view at an enlarged scale of the upperregion of a spring needle of the invention;

FIGS. 2-5 are respectively fragmentary schematic sectional elevations,taken in a radial plane which contains the axis of the needle cylinder,showing the knitting region of a circular knitting machine provided witha needle cylinder and dial, the needles being shown in differentoperating positions during the manufacture of a plush fabric;

FIG. 6a is a fragmentary front elevation of a loop stripper device ofthe machine;

FIG. 6b is a fragmentary section taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 6a inthe direction of the arrows; and

FIGS. 7-10 are diagrammatic representations of four differenttypes ofknitting methods which may be carried out according to the invention toprovide the knitted plush fabric;

FIG. 11 is an exploded diagramatic view of a portion of the dial andcylinder cams showing two adjacent knitting systems, two dial needlesand one spring needle with a conventional pattern jack.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS needle, with the possible exceptionof the tip 102. The 6 open end of the hook part 101 is directed towardthe axis of the needle cylinder 11 in which the spring nee- LII placedoutwardly from the extension 104 of the innermost straight-line part ofthe shank of the needle. The

10 tip 102 is spaced by the distance A outwardly beyond the straightline 104 in the manner shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1. Moreover, thetip 102 is inclined so that its axis makes a relatively sharp angle (1)with the straight line 104. This angle is on the order of -l5.

The distance A can, for example, be on the order of 0.3-0.5 mm. As aresult of the illustrated retracted positioning of the tip 102, thespring needles can, during the knitting operations, carry out a certainelastic swinging movement under the influence of the yarn tensionwithout any danger of striking of the needle tips against the upper edgeof the cylinder. The angle of inclination (I) of the needle tips isimportant for the reliable introduction of the plush yarn and for afaultless casting off of the plush loops.

In order to manufacture the plush fabric of the invention, theoperations illustrated in FIGS. 2-5 are carried out, these figuresshowing in a section taken in a radial plane the needle cylinder 11 inwhich the spring needles are axially shiftable. The needle cylinder 11is surrounded by the cylindrical cam casing 12 provided in its interiorwith the needle-controlling cams 13.

The machine also includes the dial 14 in which conventional latchneedles 15 are supported for radial movement in the manner ofconventional dial needles, and in this case also a cam assembly 16 isprovided with the control cams 17 which serve to control the movement ofthe plush needles 15 by engagement with the butts 151 thereof.

The control cams 17 control the actuation of the nee- 0 dles 15 withoutrupturing the yarn loop linkages. Two

dial needles 15a and 15b are illustrated in FIG. 11 and all springneedles 10 are of the same length. The cylinder cam system for holdingthe plush loops includes the permanent non-adjustable cam paths 13a andan adjustable stitch cam 13b. FIGS. 2-5 also illustrate a conventionalyarn guide 18 for the ground yarn 19 which is to be worked and anadditional special yarn guide 20 for the plush yarn 21 which is to beworked.

During the loop formation of the plush fabric initially the springneedles 10 in the needle cylinder and the latch needles 15 in the dial14 are advanced to the position shown in FIG. 2. Thus, in FIG. 2 thespring needles 10 are raised to their upper positions while the dialneedles 15 are radially advanced outwardly to the position illustratedin FIG. 2. The plush yarn 21 is fed to the yarn guide 20 in such a waythat this yarn 21 can be engaged both by the spring needles and thelatch needles, while the ground yarn 19 is fed through the yarn guide 18in such a way that it will only be worked on by the latch needles 15.Thus, the spring needles 10 work only with plush yarn. While the latchneedles 1S initially remain in their yarn-engaging positions illustratedin FIG. 2, the spring needles 10 are pulled down, as illustrated in FIG.3, and in this way the plush yarn 21 is situated in loops around theshanks of the latch needles 15. Then the latch needles 15 are retractedinwardly and in this way grasp both the plush yarn and the ground yarn21 and the ground yarn l9 closes the latch of the needle 15, asillustrated in FIG. 4, and the latch needles 15 are further retractedinwardly to their sinker positions while forming new short ground loops192. This operation is apparent from FIG. 5. In order to avoid anoverstressing of the plush yarn 21, the spring needles are raisedslightly during formation of the ground loops 192 by the latch needles15, so that the tension of the plush yarn in the plush loops 210 held bythe spring needles 10 can be maintained within acceptable limits. Themovement of the spring needles 10 in order to form the plush loops 210takes place as the result of known controls in the cylinder cam assemblyincluding eccentric sinker cams mounted therein. Such eccentric sinkeror loop-forming cams 13 can also be made adjustable so that in this wayit is possible to adjust via coaction of cams 13 and butts 103 of springneedles 10 the length of the plush loops of the plush fabric which isknitted. The holding of the formed plush loops by the latch needles 15supported in the dial 14 takes place between the needles 10 which arecontrolled by the cam components 13 of the cam assembly 12.

The plush loops formed with the spring needles 10 are preferably castoff by way of a special cam control system of the machine, with theneedles 10 being advanced to such an extent that the ends of the plushloops hang outwardly beyond the tips 102 of the spring needles 10. Thiscasting off operation is rendered more reliable by the use of a stripperdevice 22 which is fixed to the cam casing 16 of the dial and which isillustrated in FIGS. 6a and 6b. This stripper 22 has an inclinedstripping edge 221 which extends into the knitting gap 23 between thecylinder 11 and the dial 14, the knitted loops being drawn downwardlythrough this gap 23 as is well known. In FIG. 6a, in contrast to thesectional illustration of FIG. 6b, the latch needles l5 and springneedles 10 are not illustrated. There are shown in FIG. 6a only theguide grooves 141 for the latch needles and the upper ends of the guidegrooves 111 for the spring needles 10.

Referring now to FIGS. 7-10, there are four different embodiments ofknitted plush fabrics of the invention, FIGS. 7-10 respectivelyillustrating schematically the methods according to which these fourdifferent fabrics may be knitted on the circular knitting machine of theinvention. The yarn is illustrated in the manner in which it is treatedalong a pair of double knitting rows 1 and 2, of which the upperknitting row represents the latch needles and the lower row 2 representsthe spring needles in the knitting cylinder. The longer strokesrepresent the relatively long and the shorter strokes represent therelatively short needles or hooks, so that through this schematicillustration needles or hooks with relatively long or relatively shortshanks are illustrated, as well as the corresponding differentarrangement of the control butts thereof. The double knitting rows arearranged at different sequential knitting systems I, II, III, etc. atthe circumference of the knitting machine.

According to a first possible embodiment which is illustratedschematically in FIG. 7, the plush knitting of the invention takes placeat a first knitting system I where plush loops are formed by everysecond relatively short spring needle 10b symbolized by the rela tivelyshort strokes. Every second spring needle 10a represented by the longerstrokes remains in the idle position and does not participate in theknitting operations. At the latch needles, also every second latchneddle is set into operation and thus all of those latch needlesdesignated by the longer strokes, namely the needles 15a, form the loops192 from the ground yarn 19 and the plush yarn 21 together. The knittingoperations go forward in the manner described above in connection withFIGS. 25. At the second knitting system II all of the spring needlesremain idle while the spring needles 10b hold the plush loops 210 whichwere formed thereby at the system I, so that these plush loops 210 areunable to be pulled out at the rear side of the knitted fabric. Thespring needles 10 are controlled so that they are in their idlepositions in such as way that they cannot be pulled up as a result ofthe tension at the plush yarn 21. At the dial in the system II, as wasthe case with the system I, all of the latch needles 15a are moved outand form loops, this time, however, only from the ground yarn 19 withoutany plush yarn 21. Thus, undesired tuck loops and an unclean reverseside of the knitted fabric are avoided in this way.

At the next following systems III and IV all of those latch and springneedles operate which were idle during the operations carried out atsystems I and II. Thus, at system III all of the spring needles 10a formplush loops while all of the latch needles 1512 form loops out of theground and plush yarns 19 and 21 together. At system IV the plush loopsformed at system III are held by the spring needles 1(lawhich remain inthe idle position while the latch needles 15b again form loops, but thistime only from the ground yarn 19.

At the next following system V, which can be considered as a controlsystem, all of the latch needles are held at an idle position and all ofthe spring needles 10a and 10b are moved upwardly through a relativelyshort distance so that the plush loops 210 can be cast off therefrom, asis symbolized in FIG. 7 by way of the arrows 24. At the region of thesystem V the stripper 22 of FIG. 6a and 6b is situated so as to bringabout the reliable displacement of the cast off loops from the knittinglocations. At system VI all of the operations of system I are againrepeated, so that the above cycle starts over again.

FIG. 8 illustrates a second embodiment for the manufacture of a plushfabric according to the invention. Ac-

.cording to this method of manufacture at system I all ofthe springneedles 10a and 10b operate to form plush loops 210 and all of the latchneedles 15a and 15b operate to form loops from the combined ground yarnl9 and plush yarn 21. At the second system II all of the spring needles10a and 10b remain idle and hold the plush loops formed thereon whileagain all of the latch needles 15a and 15b operate to form loops onlyfrom the ground yarn 19. At the third system III all of the latchneedles are held idle while all of the spring needles are raised lightlyfor casing off the plush loops formed thereon. The casting off of theplush loops is again symbolized by the arrows 24. At the next followingsystem IV all of the operations of system I are again repeated with allof the spring needles and all of the latch needles, so that the cyclenow repeats.

In order to manufacture a third embodiment of a plush fabric of theinvention with a circular knitting machine having short and long latchneedles and short and long spring needles, in each system all of thelatch needles 15a and 15b are brought to the knitting location and formthe knitted loops 192 from the ground yarn 19 and plush yarn 21. Theshort and long spring needles, however, operate only in l 1 sequence atthe tucking location where no loop formation occurs. Since, however, thespring needles are fully projected (beyond tucking level) at thislocation, it could also be referred to as a knitting location, but noloops are formed. Thus at the first system I of FIG. 9 all of the longspring needles 10a are brought to the tucking position to form the plushloops while the short spring needles 10b hold the plush loops 210 whichwere formed at the previous knitting system. In the next followingsystem II all of the long spring needles 10a remain idle while the shortspring needles form plush loops, after the loops previously held by themat system I have been cast off, This casting off operation is possiblebecause the hooks of the needles are inwardly directed. Since duringformation of the new plush loops by the short spring needles 10b theplush loops formed at system I are held by the long needles 10a andremain under tension, it is possible for the plush loops to be pulledout at the rear side of the fabric. At the next following pair ofknitting systems III and IV the knitting operations of system I and IIare repeated. With this embodiment plush loops are formed at everycourse of the fabric, so that an extremely dense plush fabric isachieved.

According to a fourth embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 10, the plushfabric is also manufactured with long and short spring needles 10a and10b. However, in this case each groove of the needle cylinderaccommodater both a long and a short needle. The same result can beachieved also if use is made of a needle cylinder which as compared tothe dial has twice as many needle grooves so that the needledistribution for the needle cylinder is different from that of the dial.At the knitting system I all of the long spring needles 10a form plushloops while at the system II all of the short needles 10b form the plushloops. At system II the long spring needles remain idle and hold theplush loops formed at system I. At the knitting system III all of thelonger spring needles 10a will again form plush loops, after thepreviously formed plush loops have been cast off. The latch needles areset into operation at each system with all of the latch needlesoperating to form loops from both the ground yarn l9 and the plush yarn21. Inasmuch as there are twice as many spring needles as latch needles,plush loops are always formed between a pair oflatch needles so that anextremely dense plush fabric ressults.

It is to be understood that the above-described examples of FIGS. 7-10are only some of the possible types of knitted fabrics which can beachieved according to the method and machine of the invention. As hasalready been pointed out above, the circular knitting machine of theinvention can be provided with pattern selecting devices for the purposeof selecting the spring needles according to a predetermined pattern sothat plush fabric can be knitted with any desired pattern. Also, thecircular knitting machines constructed according to the invention can beprovided with yarn changing devices.

In the foregoing, the invention has been described in connection withseveral preferred arrangements thereof. Since many other variations andmodifications will now become obvious to those skilled in the art, it isdesired that the breadth of the claims not be limited to the specificdisclosure therein contained.

What is claimed is:

1. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with spring needles disposed around a cylindricalneedle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial'bed, said springneedles are guided along different cam paths of cam systems in saidcircular knitting machine, the cam paths of the cam systems for thespring needles have special cam elements which are offset with respectto each other in the direction of rotation of the circular knittingmachine, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit saidplush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, the improvementcomprising a special configuration for all spring needles, wherein eachspring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardlytherefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel tothe axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line whichextends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each springneedle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line onthe side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hookterminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along aline which makes with the straight line extension of said innermostportion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5 to 15,said cam systems include a special cam system for forming and holdingplush loops with the formation of the plush loops being effected byadjustable stitch cam means of said special cam system while the holdingofthe plush loops is effected by stationary cam means of said specialcam system, said latch and spring needles respectively having differentdistributions in said dial and needle cylinder, respectively, andstripping means operatively mounted in said circular knitting machinefor assuring the displacement of the formed plush loops from the regionof the needles and hooks.

2. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with springneedles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needlesdisposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needlescoacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern,said spring needles having special configurations wherein each springneedle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefromand provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis ofthe cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from theshank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upperhook end being situated beyond said straight line one the side thereofopposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in adownwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makeswith the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shanka relatively sharp angle on the order of 5 to 15, the improvementcomprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring andlatch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarnonly with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the groundyarn jointly with latch needles, wherein at a first knitting system ofthe knitting machine every second spring needle works to form a plushloop and every second latch needle works to form a loop of plush andground yarn, while ata next-following knitting system all of the springneedles remain idle and said every second spring needle holds thethus-formed plush loops and at least every second latch needle knits aloop of ground yarn only, and at the next-following third and fourthsystems the remaining spring needles and latch needles operate in thesame way, and in the fifth system all plush loops are cast off.

3. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with springneedles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needlesdisposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needlescoacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern,said spring needles having special configurations wherein each springneedle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefromand provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis ofthe cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from theshank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upperhook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereofopposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in adownwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makeswith the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shanka relatively sharp angle on the order of to the improvement comprising amethod of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles,which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with springneedles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly onlywith latch needles, said spring needles being alternately long andshort, all of the long spring needles operating at the first knittingsystem of the machine to form plush loops at a position wherein saidspring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receiving position andthe short spring needles remain idle to hold the plush loops formed atthe preceding knitting systems, while in a second following system ofthemachine all of the short spring needles operate to form plush loops in aposition wherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a threadreceiving position after the plush loops previously held by them at thefirst system have been cast off, and the long spring needles remain idleand hold the plush loops formed in the first knitting system while allthe latch needles operate in both systems at knitting positions to formknitted loops.

4. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with springneedles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needlesdisposed around a dial bed, said latch needlesand spring needlescoacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern,said spring needles having special configurations wherein each springneedle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefromand provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis ofthe cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from theshank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upperhook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereofopposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in adownwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makeswith the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shanka relatively sharp angle on the order to 5 to 15, the improvementcomprising a method of knitting plush fabric with said spring and latchneedles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn onlywith spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarnjointly with latch needles, wherein all the spring needles and latchneedles are alternately short and long and wherein at the first knittingsystem of the knitting machine every short and long spring needleoperatse to form plush loops and all short and long latch needlesoperate to form jointly with the plush yarn and ground yarn knittedloops, while at a second knitting system of the knitting machine, all ofthe spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed thereonwhile again all of the latch needles operate to form loops only from theground yarn, at the next following system all of the latch needles areheld idle while all of the spring needles are raised slightly forcasting off the plush loops formed thereon, and the operative cycle thenrepeats itself in the following systems of the knitting machine.

5. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with springneedles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needlesdisposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needlescoacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern,said spring needles having special configurations wherein each springneedle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefromand provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis ofthe cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from theshank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upperhook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereofopposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in adownwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makeswith the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shanka relatively sharp angle on the order of 5 to 15, the improvementcomprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring andlatch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarnonly with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the groundyarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all of the spring needles arealternately long and short and all of the latch needles are alternatelylong and short, and wherein there are disposed around the cylinder ofthe circular knitting machine twice as many spring needles as there aredisposed latch needles around the dial of the circular knitting machine,at a first knitting system of the knitting machine all of the longspring needles form plush loops while at the next system of the circularknitting machine all of the short spring needles form plush loops whileall of the long spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loopsformed at the first knitting system, all of the latch needles operatingat each system to form both loops from the ground yarn and the plushyarn, whereby due to the fact that there are twice as many springneedles as latch needles the plush loops are always formed between apair of adjacent latch needles.

1. In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturingplush knitted fabric with spring needles disposed around a cylindricalneedle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said springneedles are guided along different cam paths of cam systems in saidcircular knitting machine, the cam paths of the cam systems for thespring needles have special cam elements which are offset with respectto each other in the direction of rotation of the circular knittingmachine, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit saidplush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, the improvementcomprising a special configuration for all spring needles, wherein eachspring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardlytherefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel tothe axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line whichextends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each springneedle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line onthe side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hookterminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along aline which makes with the straight line extension of said innermostportion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to15*, said cam systems include a special cam system for forming andholding plush loops with the formation of the plush loops being effectedby adjustable stitch cam means of said special cam system while theholding of the plush loops is effected by stationary cam means of saidspecial cam system, said latch and spring needles respectively havingdifferent distributions in said dial and needle cylinder, respectively,and stripping means operatively mounted in said circular knittingmachine for assuring the displacement of the formed plush loops from theregion of the needles and hooks.
 2. In a multiple system circularknitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plushyarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindricalneedle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latchneedles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric accordingto a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having specialconfigurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and ashank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermostportion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bedalong a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past theupper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situatedbeyond said straight line one the side thereof opposite from thecylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directedinclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straightline extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relativelysharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising amethod of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles,which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with springneedles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly withlatch needles, wherein at a first knitting system of the knittingmachine every second spring needle works to form a plush loop and everysecond latch needle works to form a loop of plush and ground yarn, whileat a next-following knitting system all of the spring needles remainidle and said every second spring needle holds the thus-formed plushloops and at least every second latch needle knits a loop of ground yarnonly, and at the next-following third and fourth systems the remainingspring needles and latch needles operate in the same way, and in thefifth system all plush loops are cast off.
 3. In a multiple systemcircular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with aplush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around acylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed,said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabricaccording to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having specialconfigurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and ashank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermostportion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bedalong a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past theupper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situatedbeyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinderaxis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tipwhich extends along a line which makes with the straight line extensionof said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on theorder of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting aplush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes thesteps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles andoperating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly only with latchneedles, said spring needles being alternately long and short, all ofthe long spring needles operating at the first knitting system of themachine to form plush loops at a position wherein said spring needlesare moved upwardly into a thread receiving position and the short springneedles remain idle to hold the plush loops formed at the precedingknitting systems, while in a second following system of the machine allof the short spring needles operate to form plush loops in a positionwherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receivingposition after the plush loops previously held by them at the firstsystem have been cast off, and the long spring needles remain idle andhold the plush loops formed in tHe first knitting system while all thelatch needles operate in both systems at knitting positions to formknitted loops.
 4. In a multiple system circular knitting machine formanufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarnwith spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latchneedles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and springneedles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predeterminedpattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein eachspring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardlytherefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel tothe axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line whichextends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each springneedle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line onthe side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hookterminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along aline which makes with the straight line extension of said innermostportion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order to 5* to15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting plush fabric withsaid spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating onthe plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarnand the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all the springneedles and latch needles are alternately short and long and wherein atthe first knitting system of the knitting machine every short and longspring needle operatse to form plush loops and all short and long latchneedles operate to form jointly with the plush yarn and ground yarnknitted loops, while at a second knitting system of the knittingmachine, all of the spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loopsformed thereon while again all of the latch needles operate to formloops only from the ground yarn, at the next following system all of thelatch needles are held idle while all of the spring needles are raisedslightly for casting off the plush loops formed thereon, and theoperative cycle then repeats itself in the following systems of theknitting machine.
 5. In a multiple system circular knitting machine formanufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarnwith spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latchneedles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and springneedles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predeterminedpattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein eachspring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardlytherefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel tothe axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line whichextends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each springneedle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line onthe side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hookterminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along aline which makes with the straight line extension of said innermostportion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric withsaid spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating onthe plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarnand the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all of thespring needles are alternately long and short and all of the latchneedles are alternately long and short, and wherein there are disposedaround the cylinder of the circular knitting machine twice as manyspring needles as there are disposed latch needles around the dial ofthe circular knitting machine, at a first knitting system of theknitting machine all of the long spring needles form plush loops whileat the next system of the circular knitting machine alL of the shortspring needles form plush loops while all of the long spring needlesremain idle and hold the plush loops formed at the first knittingsystem, all of the latch needles operating at each system to form bothloops from the ground yarn and the plush yarn, whereby due to the factthat there are twice as many spring needles as latch needles the plushloops are always formed between a pair of adjacent latch needles.